Alabama football's legendary head coach Nick Saban nearly hired Oregon football head coach Dan Lanning. On a recent episode of the Pat McAfee Show, Saban revealed the surprising revelation. After Saban sent Lanning, one of his up-and-coming future head coaches, to a smaller school, a program such as Oregon, Dan fell in love with the Ducks, his newfound program.

“I actually wanted to hire him. My theory of having all these young guys on the staff and developing them was to get them a job at Memphis State and be able to rehire them,” Saban said, per Pat McAfee's X, formerly Twitter. “Well when all these guys started coaching, Kirby, Pruitt, Billy Napier, Mike Locksley, they all hire them before I can hire them, so it kind of blew up on me.”

Things didn't go as planned for former head coach Saban.

Dan Lanning is happy coaching Oregon Football

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning during practice with the Oregon Ducks Wednesday Aug. 21, 2024 at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex in Eugene, Ore
Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Oregon football hired Dan Lanning in 2021. But after retiring from coaching, Saban, and many others, anticipated Lanning to return and take his vacant seat at Alabama. Instead, Lanning stayed with the program that hired him in 2021.

“I feel like I have the things necessary here to win. So, how much money does a person need to make? What do you really need in your life? Lanning said, per ESPN's Pablo Uggetti. “For me, I want to be in a place where I can win championships. I feel like we're close to that here. And then there is a level of loyalty to people that gave you an opportunity. Why should anybody ever trust me again if I, if I do leave here for something else?”

Dan's loyalty to Oregon football remains strong as he's focused on guiding the Ducks to their program's first National championship. Back in 2021, he spoke to other opportunities that came and went and understood he'd be the type of coach who would always weigh a chance to win over any other lucrative offers that came across his table.

“Those opportunities came,” Lanning said at the end of 2021. “I didn't want to become a head coach where I couldn't be great, where I couldn't compete for championships, where I could be ahead of the curve. I was at a point at Georgia where I wasn't going to leave for a place that I didn't feel I could do it. Oregon checked all those boxes.”

Oregon football will look to build on finishing the 2023 campaign with a 12-2 record, the sixth 12-win season in school history.